Environmental impact
1. Re-wearing clothes reduces waste and pollution. Every garment purchased second-hand means one less new one produced, which is important because regardless of material, the production of clothing is costly to the environment. Producing synthetic fibers like polyester requires lots of energy, as well as crude oil like petroleum; byproducts include toxic gases and #chemicals. Sadly, pesticides used on most plants mean that even cotton and linen garments have a negative impact. Transportation-related pollution also decreases when clothing is re-used, as new clothes are much more likely to travel long distances before being sold than are their second-hand counterparts.
2. Second-hand #clothes are less likely to end up in landfills. In order to survive its first wearer in decent enough condition to make it into your hands, there’s a good chance your thrifted item is pretty hardy. And every item that doesn’t break/rip/unravel once you take it home means one less item in your trashcan.
3. Higher quality. As mentioned in the environment section, this means you’re contributing less to landfills—but it also means less frustration over incidents like your brand-new shoe breaking the first time you wear it.
4. Uniqueness. Since thrifted clothing infrequently comes in multiples, you’re much less likely to bump into someone wearing the exact same thing. In addition, there’s bound to be lots of clothes that were produced decades ago, or on the other side of the country, or in some other circumstance that makes them different than what the average shopper is buying off the sale rack at the mall
Social impact
5. Thrift stores make it easier to know where your money is going. To track the money you handed over for that brand-new Old Navy polo, you would need to trace the brand back to the corporation behind it, the assembly factories used by the corporation, their textile providers, and those textile providers’ raw materials suppliers—at a bare minimum. In evaluating all these steps (and the many others involved in the production chain), there are numerous considerations to keep in mind: Was your farmer using environmentally responsible methods? Was your seamstress of legal working age, paid a fair wage to work in a safe factory? Is the corporation behind it the kind you want to support, or one whose views you wouldn't like to see perpetuated?
In short, it can be a bit of a nightmare to track the impact of your seemingly trivial purchase. However, with most #thrift stores, this burden is greatly reduced. For better or worse, the original purchaser’s money has already supported the whole chain of production that led to your second-hand Old Navy polo.* Since most thrift stores in Europe, North America, and Australia rely heavily (if not exclusively) on donated clothing, this means you only have to question one link in the whole chain—the store right in front of you.
Its also our job to take care of the planet God has given us.
Blessings,
Nafiinu
#vintage#modest#fashion#environment
Derived all information from: http://unwrinkling.com/why-thrift/
